The Relationship between Fabric Structure and Ease-of-Care Performance of Cotton Fabrics

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Abstract
The study described herein was undertaken to determine the extent to which the ease- of-care performance of resin-treated cotton fabrics was affected by changes in fabric construction. Ease-of-care performance was estimated by measuring wrinkling during automatic wash-tumble dry cycles: wrinkle recovery and fabric stiffness under a wide variety of atmospheric conditions including two temperatures, three relative humidities, and, in the case of wet wrinkle recovery, two water temperatures: and, finally, tearing strength, Twenty-one cotton fabric constructions were treated both in the unmercerized and mer cerized states with DMEU and APO wash-wear resins. When resin treatment followed mercerization, substantial improvements in tearing strength were obtained. The best cotton fabric construction for all-round ease-of-care performance is one which permits the maximum degree of yarn mobility without excessive loss of hand. Ten of the fabrics were selected for a study of the interrelationships among wash-wear performance, wrinkle recovery and flexural rigidity. The best correlation between wash-wear rating and wrinkle recovery was obtained when the wrinkle recovery meas urements were made at 120° F, 15% RH. However, although the ability to recover from wrinkling is of prime importance in determining wash-wear performance, it is shown that fabric stiffness also has an important influence. the higher the fabric stiff ness, for a given fiber type, the lower the wrinkle recovery angle may be, for the same wash-wear performance. Because an inverse correlation exists between wrinkle recovery and flexural rigidity for tightly woven fabrics, the evaluation of both characteristics before estimating wash-wear performance is desirable.